Mobile payments: Are they safe?

Should you ditch your wallet and only carry your phone?

Paying for coffee by simply clicking a button and placing
your smart watch or phone near a receiver seems like a far-fetched concept. But
that’s what it’s like living in the future of now.

This sci-fi concept is a reality thanks to mobile payment platforms
and apps, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and others. But are they
safe?

According to UL’s Head of Cybersecurity Enablement Kevin
Emery, contactless payments are less risky than
payment with a physical credit card. Many of the different original
equipment manufacturers behind smartphones have created different and secure
ways to make sure your financial information stays safe and, more importantly, stays
yours.

A big, big antenna

In fact, Emery prefers to pay for everything through his
smart watch. Mobile payments make it difficult for someone to steal your information
as it uses technology similar to what’s found in a Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) chip, commonly
found in debit and credit cards.

To “hack” or steal a wireless payment would require the
thief to bump into the unsuspecting victim with a device capable of triggering
a payment and reading the transmitted radio frequency signal. That itself is difficult
to do, especially when considering the kind of bulky, conspicuous equipment —
or as Emery puts it: “a big, big antenna” — that would be necessary to make it
work.

Mobile payment
protections

There are other protections that help reduce the risk for high-tech
consumers, such as security triggers set around the payment amount and how many times per day a transfer can be
initiated.

Even if someone steals your phone, certain features of the smartphone’s
operating system act as a deterrent to thieves which helps keep your payment information safe. These features include a personal identification number (PIN) or
something even more unique, such as a fingerprint scanner, or facial or iris
recognition.

“If I leave my phone somewhere, I don’t worry about the
information on my phone,” Emery said. “At least not as much as I would have a
few years ago. Whether it’s payment information or an app to get into ‘Pokemon
Go,’ it’s all the same. And it’s safe.”

It’s important to note that the information on your phone is
different than a physical debit or credit card, because it doesn’t use credit
card numbers, but rather tokens that disguise the information. If your card is lost
or stolen, you can still use your phone or smart watch to make payments,
providing another level of convenience. This is true because if someone steals
the card information off your phone, they wouldn’t be able to use it to buy
things online or create another physical card because the card information is
encrypted.

So, the next time you leave your wallet or purse at home,
you don’t have to worry. You can pay on the go using mobile payment technology
with confidence.